100 crore Indians have no discretionary spending power, says report

The report said another 300 million people are ‘emerging’ or ‘aspirant’ consumers, who are reluctant spenders as they have recently opened their purse strings.

Close to 100 crore Indians, which is 90 percent of India’s population, have no discretionary spending power to buy goods or services, media reports citing a study by venture capital firm Blume Ventures has said.

India’s top 10 percent, equal to Mexico’s population of around 13-14 crore, is the primary group driving consumption and economic growth, Indus Valley Annual Report 2025 published by Blume Ventures has said.

This "consuming class" in Asia’s third largest economy is “not widening” but “deepening”, which effectively means that the rich are growing richer without any growth in the country’s wealthy population, the BBC cited the report as saying.

The report said another 300 million people are “emerging” or “aspirant” consumers, who are reluctant spenders as they have recently opened their purse strings.

These trends have shaped India’s consumer market, with brands focusing more “premiumisation” instead of mass market products, the report said.

It also pointed out that the country’s affordable real estate segment now accounts for just 18 percent, compared to 40 percent five years ago. Recently held house-full concerts of Coldplay and Ed Sheeran, showing a rapid growth in “experience economy”, were cited as evidence by the report.

In the Budget presented earlier this month, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced an income-tax rebate for those earning up to Rs 12 lakh in an effort to boost the spending power of the middle class.

The rebate will effectively mean that close to 92 percent of salaried individuals in the country won’t have any tax liability.

According to Deccan Herald, the top 10 percent in 1990 held 34 percent of the national income, which rose to 57.7 percent in 2025. In contrast, the bottom half’s share in the national income fell to 15 percent from 22.2 percent, it said.

The report also said that despite India’s consumption growth beating major world economies, it is still behind China by at least 13 years. India’s per capita consumption in 2023 was $1,493 less than China’s $1,597 in 2010.